What People Do

65: One man’s military life: Anonymous talks about before and in the French military

I can’t share his name, but he calls in from France. He wanted to join the military, and he’s serving a five-year stint. He’s gotten promotions, and after basic training, he got into exactly the unit he yearned for. He doesn’t regret his choice to join the military. He wanted a unique, powerful experience. He wanted to join that brotherhood of men and women that develops only when you’re pushed your limit, under fire, in danger, and exhausted. He found what he wanted. 
He also found Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and he sought help at the urging of his girlfriend (now his fiancee). It helped.  
The good, the bad … his life in the military. Let’s get started …  

BONUS! Gabi Dyck makes hand-made dice … and more

The folks at the gaming convention Kantcon let me interview Gabi Dyck of Gamer Girl Jewelry recently to help me help them promote my favorite gaming convention in the country. (Full disclosure: It's them. They're my favorite. But I’ve only ever been to Kantcon over and over again for years, so I’m biased.) 
You’d think with tabletop RPGs roughly 50 years old that hand-made dice would have totally been a thing by now. But Gabi Dyck, founder of Gamer Girl Jewelry, told me that hand-made dice are relatively new. Turns out, there’s a lot of equipment that makes it a more complicated hobby and business than, say, crochet (which, yes, Gabi has also enjoyed).  
It all started when Gabi saw her first set of handmade dice (bought for her by her partner—a keeper!). She was captivated and knew she had to make dice-making her business. That’s why, today, it’s her full-time job to make shiny dice, colorful dice, dice that sparkle, and dice with sparkles inside that move—like functional snow globes that double as a gamer’s best friend. 
You can find Gabi most active online on TikTok @gamergirljewelry, which includes a link to all her socials, storefronts and favorite ways to reach her. 
Listen in if you’re into arts, crafts, hobbies, gaming, or just really excited entrepreneurs …  
P.S. The pic here showcases one of the cool dice dragon guardians that Gabi makes and talks about in the episode. One of her hand-made d20s is nestled in the crook of its tail. If you like the dragon or the dice, well, you'll like Gabi's work.

64: What do we do with this life? Georgios asks, with Socrates, Aristotle and me, but in a very roundabout way

Ultimately, I think the fundamental question we tumble into, like rolling down a mountain of sharp, rocky points, bloodied and bruised at the bottom of the Mountain of Life time and time again, is, “What are we supposed to do with this life?” The philosophers phrase this question in many ways: What is good? What is God? What is truth? What is kindness? Why do we gather together? What are the best ways to gather together? Why do we rule and consent to be ruled, and what are the ways to do that? 
On and on and on. 
But, really, isn’t the question also about work, action, energy, initiative, direction, drive, desire, purpose? “What do I do next?” 
My thinking about activity and work as paramount might be because I’ve got it on the brain because I’m reading Work by James Suzman. But, if not work, then play? And if not play, then charitable helping? And if not charitable helping, then family or friends? 
We are alive. We are doing things. 
In that vein, this rambling (and, yes, I’m the one who gets lost during the conversation and is always trying to get found) chat between me and my favorite Greek mirrors the wandering ways of our first conversation. We’ve talked before—last time about Thucydides. 
We were going to talk about Plato’s Protagoras. But we hint at another dialogue that focuses, like Protagoras, on sophists, guys who get paid to teach other people how to sway people in conversation or debate. That’s Gorgias. But then we were going to talk about Aristotle. 
My favorite part, by far, of this conversation is the end: Georgios’ analogy of “Society as a Board Game.” Don’t miss it. And Socrates’ answer? Well … that’s the last few seconds of the podcast …  
So, all that to say, if you get lost, go read a translation of either of those dialogues. Here are two: 
I read Jowett’s translation of Protagoras, and I suspect Georgios did, too. Here ya go. 
And Jowett’s Gorgias? Tada. 
The picture? That's supposed to be Protagoras. But my buddy told me last time I stuck in a bust of an ancient, I got it wrong. So ... I think this is Protagoras.

63: Josh has done psychedelic drugs

Josh was an atheist.
But Josh’s mind was blown, in a good way, in experiences where he consumed psychedelic drugs.
Here, he talks about his pre-psychedelic world, his mind shift, how religions might be onto something, and the benefits and dangers of psychedelics in this one. 
Let me be clear: In talking to Josh openly about his experiences, I am not recommending anyone follow his path. I’m not telling you it would be good for you, personally, to use particular drugs, or drugs at all. That’s a personal choice for grown adults, folks. Josh uses the drugs to learn things about himself, loved ones and the world, not bliss out at parties. Listen all the way to the end for Josh’s story of one psychedelic experience he had that was a very, very unpleasant one. 
If you are toying with the idea of trying out psychedelics sometime in the future, Josh says, as unexciting as it is, you need to do your homework first. Research, research, research. And on that note …  
To feed further curiosity 
Josh’s podcast, Pursuit of Infinity: Get on it. 
Josh also name-drops the Psychedelics Today website as an excellent resource.  

62: Beth Mayorga on fan fiction

Beth Mayorga hosts her own podcast, The Fan Fic Maverick. What is “fan fic”? The definition is always being fought over in online forums, but Beth says it simply: You’re writing stories using someone else’s IP (intellectual property). 
An early form of this in the 1960s that Beth and I mention are Star Trek stories written by fans shared way before the internet was big about Kirk and Spock’s evolving relationship outside the "approved" TV show—sometimes romantically. No, that doesn’t mean all fan fic is erotic fantasy. Any time a writer or a creator makes stories using someone else’s characters, that’s fan fic. 
But, wait, wait: Isn’t that what happens in myth? Heck yeah it is. So, in this convo, we situate fan fic in its wider place in literature as the newest outgrowth of a practice that’s thousands of years old: making up new stories using characters you didn’t make up. 
To feed further curiosity 
Ready to dive in? You’ve got two options. 
Head to Archive of Our Own, which is jammed with one of the internet’s biggest repository of fan fic on just about anything you love. Pick a character you love. A theme you want expressed. A story from movie, TV or books you want continued. Dive in. 
Go the podcast route, and join Beth and Sara as they feature a two-part fan fic history in their two podcasts: Part 1 is at Sara’s Talkin’ Fanfic, and Part 2 is on Beth’s podcast. 
Dig Beth? She promises, at the end of our interview, that she’s working on some written, video or podcast stuff on the history and culture of fan fiction writers. YAY! 
Enjoy. :) 

61: Noah Mussay talks about spina bifida

What is spina bifida? What is it like living with the ongoing of the birth defect as a creative twentysomething American?
Noah Mussay talks about childhood, school, work, life and sled hockey, and gives us a few pointers on the way he prefers strangers ask about his condition (hint: be curious, not entitled). 
Note: After the last question here, I asked Noah what he does for fun outside of work and his former sled hockey days. He said he’s reading Robert Jordan gigantic “Wheel of Time” series. He talked me into it, and I’ve got a copy of the first book coming from the library. I'm 48 now, and I tried to read it way, way back when it first started in 1990, when I was 15. Thanks, Noah. I’ll let you know what I think.
Second note: Noah says he's noodling around the idea of doing a podcast where he talks to other people about their lives with disabilities. He's got a great voice and ideas, so I really, really hope he does. I'd listen!

60: Jeffery D. Long on Indian philosophy

Jeffery D. Long spoke to me last year about religious pacifism, especially in reference to the brand-new book he co-edited (and wrote chapters for), Nonviolence in the World’s Religions: A Concise Introduction (Routledge, 2022).  
Now, the Carl W. Ziegler Professor of Religious Studies at Elizabethtown College talks to me about a book coming out this year: Discovering Indian Philosophy: An Introduction to Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist Thought (Bloomsbury, coming 2023). It’s a sneak peek! And I am incredibly interested in the topic. I have delved into Buddhism, which had its start in India way back when. And I’ve been fascinated by the study of Americans who brought Eastern philosophy and religion back with them in the back half of the 20th century. 
Long, however, a convert to Hinduism, wanted to do his part of help place Indian philosophy not only in its place in world religion, but in the Philosophy Department proper. 
What can we learn about what we think and how we think from the great traditions of the Indian subcontinent without silo-ing those ideas just in religion? 
I was hungry to learn, and Long thrilled me with answers to questions I didn’t even know I had ... 
Photo by Navneet Shanu

59: Adam Gray teaches English in Taiwan

There is a joy that comes with interviewing someone about something you are deeply familiar with. You have lots of follow-up questions. You have lots of chances to push back. You know what to joke about to show inside knowledge and how to carry the interviewee deeper and deeper into the shared pool. 
There is another joy that comes with interviewing someone about something you know nothing about. Well, OK, to be fair, Adam Gray and I both teach languages, and we both play video games (check out his podcast here).  
But Taiwan? Nothing. I got nothing. It's off the coast of China? There's some disagreement about who should be in charge of it, and what that looks like? That's it.
So, I was delighted to get Adam's immigrant take. He has spent 16-ish years teaching “cram school” there, where students finish up their day at regular school then spend hours in the afternoon and evening in English immersion classes with Adam and thousands of other teachers around the island. 
So, I get to learn from Adam what it’s like to leap into a new country with a new career, live overseas for more than a decade, wrestle with the Chinese language, explore Chinese and Taiwanese politics as a bystander, and, generally, enjoy and flourish living in a new country. 
Adam’s got a voice for radio, answers every question I have, and seems like a bright example of a success story on a career path that many English speakers, all over the world, dive into: teaching your native language around the world. 
We end on a discussion about something I find particularly interesting: the generational changes, as parents who went through strict and stressful education want their kids to have it easier, but wind up, maybe, making it harder for their kids to learn what they need to know. 
Image of Kaohsiung City in Taiwan by tingyaoh from Pixabay 

58: John France illuminates the Crusades

I spoke to a veterinarian-and-amateur-historian recently, and he turned me onto the Crusades. I’ll admit, I hadn’t thought much about them beyond the basic line: zealous Christians from Europe led failed (and very bloody) military attempts to hold Jerusalem and other parts of Jesus' old stomping grounds. The leaders, I remembered, were surely motivated by greed and holy-war violence. 
Not so fast, says professor emeritus John France. The truth of things is more nuanced and multifaceted, but, yes, still very violent and bloody. But this medieval historian argues compellingly that, well, we forget, as moderns, just how bloody medieval Europe was—how violence was a common experience for generation after generation there. France was there in academia for a slow sea change in medieval history, where they revisited the myth that all these crusaders were hungry for power and gold. (They actually spent a lot of their own money on these religious excursions.) 
Find out what you didn’t know about the Crusades with the brilliant professor emeritus from Swansea University in Wales, the delightful and thoughtful John France ... 
To Feed Further Curiosity:  
I have been reading an edition of The Concise History of the Crusades by Thomas F. Madden. It has a lot of names and locations that are hard to track, and it goes by pretty fast, but Madden writes with an excited, passionate voice and carries me through the moments when I get lost and hope to find purchase in the timeline again. Most illuminating are the different reasons and results of the separate crusades and groups gathered up under the umbrella of “crusading.” 
France credits Jonathan Riley-Smith (The First Crusade and the Idea of Crusading) with helping to change the vision of the Crusades from ruthless power grab to a more nuanced take. 
France himself has written some academic books covered here. If you really want to go down the rabbit trail of medieval military tactics and history, France mentions De Re Militari. 

57: Christine Horne studied COVID social norms

The very kind academic Monica Kirkpatrick Johnson answered questions about teenagers in society last year on this podcast. At the time, she told me she was a helping hand in research done right at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, say, March 2020.  
The research had to do with social norms, Dr. Kirkpatrick Johnson told me, and her colleague—Washington State University sociology professor Dr. Christine Horne—could tell me more. 
Well, she did.
Dr. Horne and I discuss sociology, American culture, a little about her biggest bit of research (bridewealth, paid from groom's family to bride's family, in Ghana), and a lot about the research she did about brand-new social norms that developed, in real time, during the pandemic in 2020. 
What are social norms? Are they good or bad … enervating or oppressive … both? And how did Democrats and Republicans judge each other for their choices about mask-wearing, vaccine-taking, shopping and store-closing during the pandemic? 
You’re not done with COVID until you’ve done a little reflection and processing with us … 
To feed further curiosity: 
Read one of Dr. Horne's co-written bridewealth research papers here. 
Read the abstract for Dr. Horne’s COVID paper here. 
Note: There’s some weird crinkling on some of this audio. I think, maybe, a camera was focusing in and out, and you could hear it on the mic. Honestly, I am becoming increasingly fascinated by the live sound artifacts that get captured electronically. Sorry about that. But, y’know, this podcast is free, so beggars can’t be choosers. And Dr. Horne is so interesting, I’d listen to her thoughts on society and sociology through a loud wind storm. YMMV.